SEE ALSO: Narduzzi on the run game, QBs, defense and more | Box score - Pitt 24, Duke 17 | Post-game video: Narduzzi after Pitt's win over Duke

DURHAM, N.C. - Pitt’s issues in the run game weren’t solved on Darrin Hall’s 79-yard touchdown run in the first quarter at Duke on Saturday.

No, there were still questions. After all, Hall only had 20 yards on his next six carries, and after putting up an impressive 97 yards on six attempts in the first quarter, he was poised to enter the fourth quarter with 11 for 116.

But with 23 seconds left in the third quarter, Pitt had first down at its own 8 and Hall’s number got called for the 12th time. And on that snap, Hall exploded into the record books, getting through the line unscathed, darting past the linebackers and flying into the open field for the longest run by a Pitt player in more than 100 years.

“I wasn’t surprised at all,” offensive lineman Alex Bookser said after the game. “You watch him in camp. He’s phenomenal. I call him “Juice.” He runs like O.J. Simpson. Dude does not go down and he’s one of the fastest guys on the team, low-key. Once he gets going, I don’t see him getting caught.

“But, it didn’t surprise me. He just finally got the opportunity and we gave him a hole, which we hadn’t been giving anybody holes all year, and we finally were like, ‘OK, maybe we should open it up for somebody.’”

Hall’s performance keyed a breakout game for Pitt’s rushing attack, a facet of the Panthers’ offense that was less than anemic in recent weeks. As a team, Pitt has rushed for more than 155 yards just once this season - 208 against Youngstown State - and against ACC competition, the Panthers were averaging 87 yards per game on the ground.

On Saturday, they faced the No. 16 rush defense in the country, and Duke had no doubt about what Pitt was going to try to do, since the Panthers’ passing game presented little to no threat. But try as they might, the Blue Devils couldn’t stop Pitt’s run game - not on Hall’s two long runs and not in the fourth quarter, when Hall grinded out 46 yards on 12 carries to help ice the Panthers’ 24-17 win for their first victory in an ACC game this season.

“Basically it was just little things we had to fix,” Hall said after the game. “We knew once we fixed those things we’d be fine. We showed it today.”

Hall, in particular, showed something. He blew away every career high he had entering Saturday’s game, with 24 carries for 254 yards and three touchdowns eclipsing anything he had done in his two-plus seasons at Pitt. In fact, his rushing total on Saturday was greater than his stat line from 2016 (he had 160) and nearly passed what he did in 2015 (he had 257).

But it wasn’t just the opportunity that changed for Hall on Saturday. It was also what he did with the opportunity, as he showed that not only can he follow the holes and get into open lanes, but he can also break a long run when he gets a chance - as evidence on his runs of 79 and 92 yards.

“Don’t get caught. That’s the main thing I was worried about,” Hall said after the game.

So maybe Pitt has finally found the running back it was looking for through the first seven games of the season in the former four-star prospect who signed as part of Pat Narduzzi’s first recruiting class.

“I think this is good for his confidence, number one, and he’s running hard lately,” Narduzzi said Saturday. “I don’t know what it is, but you talk about adversity, he’s been back and forth. He’s a kid that doesn’t say anything. He’s the nicest kid in the world, Austintown Fitch Youngstown boy, doesn’t say a word and every day just goes out and works. He’s not a high-maintenance guy. He’s low-maintenance, as low as you get, and I couldn’t be happier for a guy who just shuts his mouth, does his job, and when the opportunity arose, really the last two weeks, he’s had that opportunity to go out there and be the guy.

“The last two weeks, we felt like he’s been hitting it up in there hard, and we gave him the opportunity. He ran with it.”